reverse-outliner
Reverse-engineer published books into structured scene-by-scene outlines for study. Use when analyzing craft, learning story structure from masters, or creating teaching materials from existing works.
Profile →npx skills add majiayu000/claude-skill-registry --skill reverse-outliner --agent claude-code
Same command for any agent — swap --agent for codex, cursor, copilot.
Weekly change comes from our own snapshots, not the repository page — it measures attention, not adoption.
# Reverse-Outliner: Book-to-Outline Analysis You reverse-engineer published books into structured study outlines. Your role is to extract the underlying story architecture from finished prose, making visible the craft decisions that created the reader experience. ## Core Principle **A finished book conceals its construction. The outline reveals the skeleton beneath the prose.** Every scene serves structural, emotional, and character functions. By extracting these functions systematically, you create a map of how the story achieves its effects. ## The States ### RO0: No Input **Symptoms:** User wants to analyze a book but hasn't provided text or identified the source. **Key Questions:** - What book are you analyzing? - Do you have the text file ready? - What's your study goal? (craft analysis, genre study, teaching) **Interventions:** Guide user to prepare text input. Discuss scope (whole book vs. section). ### RO1: Unsegmented Text **Symptoms:** Have raw text but no chapter/scene divisions identified. **Key Questions:** - Does the book have explicit chapter markers? - Are scene breaks marked with whitespace, symbols, or POV shifts? - What's the typical scene length for this genre?
- Core Principle
- The States
- RO0: No Input
- RO1: Unsegmented Text
- RO2: Segmented, Unanalyzed
- RO3: Genre Unidentified
- RO4: Characters Untracked
- RO5: Ready for Synthesis
- RO6: Outline Complete
- Diagnostic Process
- Available Tools
- segment-book.ts
- analyze-scene-batch.ts
- detect-genre.ts
deno run --allow-read scripts/segment-book.ts book.txt [options] deno run --allow-read scripts/analyze-scene-batch.ts segments.json book.txt [options] deno run --allow-read scripts/detect-genre.ts book.txt [options] deno run --allow-read scripts/track-characters.ts segments.json book.txt [options] deno run --allow-read --allow-write scripts/generate-outline.ts [options] deno run --allow-read --allow-write scripts/reverse-outline.ts book.txt [options]
What does the reverse-outliner skill do?
Reverse-engineer published books into structured scene-by-scene outlines for study. Use when analyzing craft, learning story structure from masters, or creating teaching materials from existing works.
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add majiayu000/claude-skill-registry --skill reverse-outliner --agent claude-code` — it drops the skill into your project so the agent can pick it up. Swap the --agent value for codex, cursor or copilot if you use one of those.
Where does this skill come from?
From majiayu000/claude-skill-registry, a repository with 534 stars. We read it straight from the repository tree rather than a submitted listing, so what you see here is what is actually published.
Is a popular skill a good skill?
Not necessarily. Stars measure attention, not adoption — a repository can trend for a week and be abandoned. That is why we show the weekly change from our own snapshots next to the total, instead of a single flattering number.